Maybe this one's the right gansey...
Look at the gansey on the right-- that's the closest to what Elizabeth Lovick has described as a rocket gansey...
http://photos.shetland-museum.org.uk/image.php?i=88160&r=2&t=4&x=1I'm liking it.
What's a rocket gansey, you ask? At
The History of Rockets and Military Rocketry, they give this description:
Rocket Brigades
Rocket Brigades were mounted in most coastal towns in Britain and hence Australia (and presumably elsewhere) to assist vessels in distress usually those that had run aground on rocks, reefs etc. The rockets would both act as signals that help was at hand and also carry life lines to which larger tow ropes could be attached.
A fisherman clearly wearing a Gansey (Guernsey - Ed.) which, upon closer inspection, is almost certainly that of the "Cullercoats Rocket Brigade" is shown running through the streets of a small northern fishing village shouting "All hands man the Life-Boat!" is dated 26 November 1887. (end of quote)
(ruth again here) How cool would it be to knit up a rocket gansey in honor of my Roketman?
R
Tempest is Done!
The Tempest is done! This is the result:
What's that nose under the coffee table, you ask? That's Braveheart Rex, in his safe place.
That's 2 1/2 pounds of yarn -- about 2200 yards. From a 5 pound fleece, a black corriedale lamb named Tempest. Wow, I have been rather obsessive-compulsive - I was sampling back on
April 29!
As for Rex? What can I say- he's the biggest chicken Pyr there ever was.
What am I planning for the yarn? It's going to be the road trip project, a gansey for me. Like I mentioned on the
research blog, we're going to cruise up in Puget Sound. We're chartering a boat (think Winnebago, not yacht!) and the Roketman's taking instruction for his pilot/captain's license.
What other knitting am I taking? I'm taking the navy cashmere that Erin brought me from Stitches West, for the Roketman, and enough sock yarn for about 4 pairs.
Summer of Socks starts on Thursday June 21, about 4 days of vacation left. Do I really think I'm going to do a pair a day? No, I realize that's not going to happen, I'm not that delusional. Not for long, any way.
R
Google Coolness...
So, I just discovered a new thing about Google...
but first, a bit of preliminary explanation.
You can have a Google "My Page" - which pretty much means you can add little applets (mini-applications) that do the things you need most often. I've got a dictionary (so I can look up spelling), weather for Anacortes Washington because that's where we're going on vacation, the "Unofficial Calvin and Hobbes Cartoon of the Day", Google Maps, a zip code converter, a currency converter -- that kind of stuff. There are pages and pages of applets to choose from.
I just saw that you can even add tabs, so you don't have to scroll down, and so you can organize stuff. So, I clicked on "Add a tab" and saw that you can name it what you want. AND - there's a "I'm feeling lucky - automatically add stuff based on the name". So... what the heck. I added "KNITTING" (but of course!)
Wow. Too cool - there's Wendy Knits, the Knitting Curmudgeon, the Yarn Harlot... and something called Knitting News Cast at http://www.knittingnewscast.com/news/ . Interesting concept - kinda blog like, but the misspelling of newscast makes me wince instead of thinking it's clever word play.
More later ...
